The Public Baths are on the north side of Union Street at its junction with Bath Street in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The structure is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The public baths were built for Chester City Council between 1898 and 1901 and were designed by the local architect John Douglas on whose land they were constructed. It was an unusual commission for Douglas, as most of his previous designs had been for churches and houses. Designing the baths involved "technical complexity and specialist engineering work". During the design process Douglas advised that because of possible leakage through the

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

linings of the baths, it should be replaced by a bituminous lining at an additional cost of £150 (); the council agreed to this. In the 1970s the city council were building Northgate Arena, a leisure complex which included a swimming pool, and they stated that they would not be able to afford to run both this and the old baths. However the City of Chester Swimming Club were of the opinion that the new baths would not be suitable for competitive swimming or for

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

. The Chester Swimming Association was formed and they took over the management of the baths on 14 April 1977. They made improvements to the building, including the installation of gas central heating and a new water filtration system, the addition of a kitchen, cafeteria and gymnasium, and strengthening of the structure. The slipper bath was replaced by a clubroom and bar.

Architecture

The structure is partly in two storeys and partly in one storey. The frontage on Union Street is in two storeys. The lower storey is in red Ruabon brick with stone dressings, the upper storey is half-timbered, and the decorated chimney stacks are brick. Behind the frontage are the swimming baths and the boiler house is at the rear. The frontage is symmetrical; the small wing at the left originally contained the caretaker's flat and a slipper bath. The ground floor contains two arched entrances, each with double doors and windows. Between the entrances is a pair of

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-headed windows, over which is a stone panel containing the city's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. The upper storey is jettied and has three

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. Beneath the middle gable is a five-light mullioned canted

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

, and under the outer arches are four-light mullioned

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s. Internally there are two swimming baths. The larger, the Atlantic, long, is deep enough for diving, and is surrounded by galleries. The other bath, the Pacific, is long. Douglas' biographer, Edward Hubbard, commenting on the utilitarian nature of the building, stated that the domestic architectural style of its frontage "bears little relation in plan or character to what lies behind".

References

{{Reflist, 30em Buildings and structures in Chester Grade II listed buildings in Chester John Douglas buildings Buildings and structures completed in 1901 Government buildings completed in 1901

History

Architecture

See also

References